Artist Spotlight: Steve Duda

Today’s artist is a guy a bit more unusual than the fare typically presented here – Steve Duda’s biographies describe him primarily as a freelance programmer and engineer. However, working as a programmer and producer in the music scene has helped Duda rise as an artist of his own merit, producing music, TV and movies, remixing, composing and editing.

Steve Duda attended college over at UC Santa Cruz, a school with a renowned electronic music department, and from there he started work as a professional in the field of technology related to electronic music production. He made big contacts, and his break, so to speak, was when Nine Inch Nails requested his technical work, in programming, sound design, and ProTools proficiency. He’s gone on to work with many big names as technical support, including Rob Zombie, A Perfect Circle, and many other famous producers and engineers in the music industry. Steve Duda has also designed award-winning software, including what’s called the “BFD Virtual Acoustic Drum Module.”

In 2005, Steve Duda took music production to the next level, as he teamed up with fellow producer/programmer Deadmou5 to form BSOD. Together, they’ve broken into the electronic music world, receiving critical acclaim and requests for remixes. One thing Steve Duda has proven is that in the world of music, he’s a true innovator, ready and willing to shape the evolution of music.

Once he started touring under his own name, Steve Duda has worked hard to create a live set that would “reset electronic musician’s principles.” He does that by sequencing music on the fly, live, manipulating and writing drum loops in real time. This creates an organic, creative live show instead of a tracklist for him to work down.

This cutting-edge name in music will be coming to San Francisco, to play at Ruby Skye, on Friday January 6th. He’ll be playing alongside Tekfreaks, which is Cosmic Selector and Jeff Taisch. These guys are going to be incredible at Ruby Skye as well – normally resident DJs at Opulent Temple events with what’s called their “old-school rock metal electro tech funk sound.” I don’t really know what that means, it seems to cover just about all the genres to me, but as Tekfreaks have started playing more broadly they have started to put out some remixes and original songs that really surge with basslines and pumping production.

This Friday is going to be another incredible night at Ruby Skye, and check out Steve Duda for some musically fascinating sounds that still know how to kick down the dance floor.